Old Builds in 4.0

After the release of 4.0 I wanted to go over the builds on the website and talk about how the old ones translate to the new meta. Zerg hasn’t received too many changes since the start of 4.0 (at least relative to Protoss) so most of the builds that worked in the old meta will still work well in the new one.

There are a few changes to note, that impact the old builds on the site.

First in ZvT mech seems to be even more popular than before the patch, but this doesn’t have too much of an impact on any of the builds on the site. It does mean that timing attacks like the Dark’s ravager ling queen timing should work better more of the time (the attack is more powerful against hellion/tank openings than bio based ones).

Second, the shield battery introduction changes the way Protoss defense in the early game works, so the early timings and all-in builds in ZvP need to be looked at. The only build I think won’t really work on the new patch is Dark’s Roach Burrow Attack since the Protoss can place a shield battery in each mineral line and that buys them a ton of time to get a second oracle or an observer.

Third, the colossus change means if they can get a few colossus out before your 54 Drone Hydra Ling Timing/All-In hits, it will be easier to hold, but this build is still powerful and strong against star gate openings that go into anything other than colossus (and if they only have 1-2 colossus by the time you get there, you can still win it is just more difficult). The build will still work fine vs archon drop and other types of builds as well.

Lastly, the map pool has changed and there is nothing quite like acolyte so I can’t recommend using Blizzcon 2017 Rogue’s 2 base Nydus All-in ZvP. The build is more map dependent than most, so even though nothing really changed to much about any of the units involved (the swarm host speed nerf hurts but you are using nydus anyways so that change isn’t a huge impact) the build won’t really work anymore. You can keep an eye out for changes to the map pool in next season however, as this build could certainly work again with the right map.

Other than that, all of the other builds in every match-up are still effective strategies despite all of the changes. A lot of them, like the Rule of 1 Gas or Standard Ling Bane Hydra ZvT work similarly, just expect to face more mech base armies than before. All of the builds will work just as they had before, the only one I really don’t think works anymore is the burrow roach attack in ZvP.